Kidnapped car salesman frees himself from trunk during test drive
HOUSTON -- It was a test drive a Houston car salesman is unlikely to ever forget.
CBS affiliate KHOU reports that on Monday, the salesman took a man for a test drive from the Gillman Dodge dealership in southwest Houston when an argument turned into a violent kidnapping that he narrowly escaped.
After a physical fight erupted, the station reports the "customer" threw the salesman into the trunk.
The salesmen then pulled the emergency trigger while he was locked inside, police said. He managed to pry open the trunk and rolled out of the moving vehicle near the dealership, police said.
The assailant got out and pointed a gun at him, but the salesman knocked the gun out of his hand. Shots were fired, the station was told, but no one was hit.
After a short pursuit, police caught the stolen red Dodge Challenger by a nearby church.
"One of my officers was on patrol," said Arthur Chatman, who does private security for a neighborhood around the dealership. "He was flagged down by the victim's friend who had apparently tracked him here to this location stating his friend was kidnapped."
A friend of the salesman was supposedly tracking him on his phone. It is unclear how he knew to do so.
The assailant is still at large.